Hanging- millstones



Y- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

rEDVIN CLARK, OF LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA.

HANGING MILLSTONES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 18,191, dated September 15, 1857.

To all whom 'it ma/y concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN CLARK, of the city and county of Lancaster and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flouring- Mills; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l represents a vertical central section through the mill. Fig. 2 represents a horizontal section through t-he mill, and Fig. 3 represents the ring, and portions of its connections, which forms the self balancing device or gimbal, in which the upper stone is hung and adjust-ed.

Similar letters of reference where they occur in the several figures, denote like parts of the mill in all of them. Y.

The nature of my invention relates to the so hanging of the upper stone in the gimbal, and connecting the gimbal to the frame, as that the said upper stone shall not only be self adjusting, but also made adjustable to the lower stone to regulate the quality of the grinding, and allow the upper stone to rise, should any hard material get in between the stones, and thus relieve themselves from the danger of breakage.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

A, represents the frame of a mill; B, the bridge tree, upon which the spindle C, of the runner D, is supported, the upper end of said spindle being supported in the cap E. The supports A, are cut away at their inner top parts, so as to receive followers F, and allow them to be moved therein. One of the followers F, as seen at the right of Fig. 1, is made adjustable by means of the set screw a, passing through it, and through a slot b, in the support A; and the follower on the opposite or left side of Fig. l is ,held in the proper position, or raised or lowered by means of the screw winch G, passing down through the cap E, and into said follower. In these two followers F, F, are arranged boxes or bearings for the jour- ,nals c, c, so that they can turn therein, and to the journals, or the block H, connected to them is pivoted the ring I, at two oppoj site points by pivots ci, d; and at 90 from these pivots d, cl, the upper stone J, is suspended to said ring I, by other pivots e, c, so that the upper stone is hung by a gimbal joint to the frame. Now, by turning the screw winch G, the follower F, on that side can be raised or lowered, and through it the upper stone J, so as to regulate the grinding by regulating the distance between the grinding surfaces. In raising the follower F by the winch G, it is not necessary to raise the opposite follower, because the upper stone being hung to the ring at right angles to a line drawn through these followers the stone will find its level the moment the lower part of it touches the stone D. The weight of the stone J, will ordinarily hold it down suiiciently rigid to other stone, but if not, a weight or spring may be attached to that follower in which the winch works, to aid in keeping it down. Now although "the upper stone is described as being raised and lowered by the winch Gr to make it adjustable, yet it has a self adjusting property in connection with this adjustment as follows: The weight of the stone J, is all that keeps down the follower F, to which the winch is connected, and should any hard substance get in between the stones, such as a nail, which often occurs, the stone J, will rise, carrying up said follower with it', and thus avoid the danger of breakage to the mill, and whether the stone J, be raised or lowered at that side of the mill, and without raising or lowering the follower on the opposite side thereof, itv will alwaysxmaintain its horizontal position, or get it the moment it touches the lower stone. The upper stone therefore is not only made adjust-able in the ring I, to regulate the quality of the grinding, but is self adjusting in case any obstruction occurs between the grinding surfaces.

K, may represent the curb for catching and directing the ground material to the exit.

Having thus fully described the nature of my invention, I would state that I do not claim hanging the upper stone in a bal- I upward play, or automatic adjustment of anced ring or gimbal joint, as this has herethe upper` stone, and at the same time admit l0 tofore been done, but the usual hand adjustment byl set screws if Vhat I do claim as new and desire to desired, substantially as described. 5 secure by Letters Patentis- EDWIN CLARK.

So uniting the ring which supports the Witnesses: upper stone, to the frame of the mill, by A. B. STOUGHTON, sliding blocks or followers, as to allow an THos. H. UPPERMAN. 

